Zeroes and Heroes
by nana chan the weird
Summary: Something changes the Sandaime Hokage's mind when he makes the teams this year. Meet Team Asuma- Inuzuka Kiba, Nara Shikamaru, and Uzumaki Naruto.


**Title**: Zeros and Heroes

**Author:** Nana-chan the weird

**Rating**: T

**Summary:** Something changes the Sandaime Hokage's mind when he makes the teams this year. Meet Team Asuma- Inuzuka Kiba, Nara Shikamaru, and Uzumaki Naruto.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto; it is owned by the genius Masashi Kishimoto. Of course Shonen Jump most likely gets all the money and that makes me a sad panda.

**Author's Note:** This is a rewrite of a story that I still have up called From Zero to Hero. Read it if you want but this one is obviously better seeing as it's a rewrite and all.

Prologue

Not as long ago as some might lead you to believe, in Fire country a hidden village began. It started off as a refuge for rouge ninja that had abandoned their currently oppressive governments to find somewhere else, somewhere with a little less control, but as it began to quickly evolve into a village the Shodaime Hokage was required to put together a system for sorting the incoming ninja into teams. He came up with the now famous system of putting the ninja from the academy with the highest scores with the ninja that had the lowest scores to balance each other out. It was a long lived tradition that was now, as the Sandaime Hokage realized, impractical. Or at least that was what Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato was trying to convince the village council of Konohagakure into believing.

The council had always been a stickler for traditions; they were of the mindset that if it worked for all those years before that it would still be able to work, no matter how much the world around them had changed. They were old farts in the Sandiame's mind- they resented change and all it stood for, they clung to the ways of the past as a connection to memories and places long gone. He knew when he first brought it up that they would be rather unreceptive towards the idea which was exactly why he came in with a few key points that he felt would definitely affect their decision upon the matter. As he thought they seemed to weaken when he mentioned that their little prize, Uchiha Sasuke who they claimed was their favorite of all the rookies, would be put into the highest team and have the infamous Hatake Kakashi for a teacher. He would have, who the village viewed as, competent team mates who would be sure to be able to keep him from harm. It amused him that they worried about the boy's safety it was like they were declaring their inability to trust him to be able to satisfactorily protect himself even though he was the rookie of the year. They weakened even more when he mentioned that Uzumaki Naruto, a person that many on the council had some problems with, would be placed on the lowest team. Otherwise they would have to pair Sasuke and Naruto together and there was a possibility for Sasuke to be killed from one of Naruto's more stupid pranks, something the Sandaime didn't think would happen but was always good to point out.

Eventually the council gave in just like he knew that they would. The teams would now be put together in a different order. The top three of the newly graduating class-- Aburame Shino, Uchiha Sasuke, and Yamanaka Ino-- would be paired together as would the middle three-- Akimichi Chouji, Haruno Sakura, and Hyuuga Hinata-- and the last three-- Inuzuka Kiba, Nara Shikamaru, and Uzumaki Naruto. These would be the three teams to pass from the academy this year; the rest would be given the option of more training at the academy or going for training to guard the fire lord. Most chose the latter; it was too embarrassing to go back to the academy even if it meant no more being a ninja.

This year it was perfect they would have a reconnaissance team, a tracking team, and an execution and support team. What more could they ask for?

It seemed a shame that the three at the bottom of their class were there. When the Sandaime questioned a rather nervous Iruka about it he found out that they were only at the bottom of their class because they never took tests. Shikamaru would say it was too troublesome to pick up the pencil and instead slept. Kiba seemed to stay up all night the night before the test studying and when it came time to take the thing he would fall asleep-- and nothing could wake the sleeping Kiba. On the other hand Naruto was notorious for not showing up on test days, his pranks always coincided with exam days, something that the Sandaime often asked about. Naruto would only reply that it seemed fitting. It was strange because they always offered to let him make them up but he never did. It was a mystery that it seemed no one ever felt the need to figure out why.

End Prologue


End file.
